Extensible mast.



B. F. SEYMOUR.

EXTENSIBLE MAST.

APPLICATION FILED 050301 1916.

Patented Dec. 3, 1918.

c D. n. m n m n u w a, n 1 m m w n r u n u n s n r iol . rn; earns ATE ir Brion..

BENJAMIN F. SEYMOUR, or DENVER, Cononnno.

EXTENSIBLE MAST.y

Specification 0f Iltterslatent.- i Patented-Decy, 191378.

animati@andrecemberso,191e. serial no, 139,883.

To all whom z'ma'y concern.' u

Be it known thatI, BENJAMIN F. Sny- Momz, a citizenof the United: yStates,.res1d ing at Denver, in the countyl of Denver and AState of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Extensible means of which an object, whatever:itsna-V ture and whether designed for warfare or commercial uses, may 4beelevated gto aconsiderable height above a surface upon which the mast is erected. The character of the object mounted on the mast is inimateriaL-fbut in practice I prefer that the mast shalleontain Va platform which will be designed as a support for the object., or contrivance, and which may also serve as an observation'platform from which the surrounding country may be inspected, this phase of the invention and in fact many of the leading parts vof the present structure, being not essentially unlike the ,corresponding parts and the operations thereof, which are fully described in my copending applications, Ser. No. 65,725, led December 8,191.5, and Ser. No. 7 5,772, filed February 2, 1916. 'In other words,it is understood thatl in the present ca se ythe'mast may be supplied with such accessories, contrivances, and opera-ting means us are indicated in the aforesaid applications, and-for thesake ofsi-mplicity these oontriva-ncesland y fthe operations of the `same 'are-net She-rein setforth in detail. l

' yIn the yaccomp anyin, 1; drawingsfforming lpart of this specification and in which simila-r reference characters ipdicate'g'likeparts in lthe several view szv v yFigure'l is a side elevation ,cfa-.sectional mast `showing thesections Mthereof in their `v extended position, A

Fig. an enlarged `side elevation, pari ytially in Secti0r1,0fthebase Section and P9?- tions ofn intermediate sections their extended position. u i

Fig. A isa side eleyation of the mast ,in its folded condition.r t i i 'i Fig. 4 is a crossl seetinal v iew'on the line 4 4 of Fig. Il. v .Y i,

As in my aforesaid prior applicationsghe present mast is of an extensible character fand'is formed of a base-section andfaplulrality of sections adapted to telescope, each of said latter sections comprising a' plurall ity of rotatably connected ,tubular'meinbers, with the exception of rthe upperfsection, the members of which are relatively stationary and may, if desired, Vbe madeof solid mate# rial, the arrangement of""t hesections being such-that a rotary movement imparted to the members of one of the sections Vwill result 'in successive upward or downward movements ef other sections, according to the direction of rotation of the Virst-naliied sections.

'lhe lower or base section of the l-mast --is composed of a plurality (if-'parallel tubular v parts a, a, the former of which `is rigidly secured upon a Hoor or platform `.Z ',i,1pon which 'the mast is erected, and .which platform or floor may lrepresent the lcorresponding part of a vehicle of any desired type upon which the structure is 'designed to lbe mounted and by which itmay be transported `from place to place. This-platform, of

course, may be stationary and in fact it may represent any suitable support lea-pablo" of properly sustaining the mastirin either its yextended posi-tion as in Fig. 1, or when the sections lare collapsedor :telescoped .as in Y Fig. `2.

At the V,top of the tubular members, a', and

within an appropriate casing or `housing,

' 12, are containedappropriate nuts, '14T- :in thepresent ,ar-rangement 1I have shown the y\-stru`ct11'-r e as Acomprising four lower tubular ,members suitably spaced apart .and :a cen# Y trally disposed member, y,jiwlhich "latter serves as a'driver for the other ymemberszof the base section and to't-his yenrol :thezcentral member Vcarries a ,beveled yor .other gear, :1 5,

which is in `mesh `with and is :driven by :a

gear 17, `which has acrankhandle,1$, or` .other appropriate driving lelement.

vThe nuts, 14, are loosely Vmounted'pon z.the

i `upper ends of the uprights, while a. nut, 111',

the upper end of the centralupright, a', and

tively driven as before stated. The nuts-are of any well known type and` maybe in the form of gear-Wheels which intermesh as indicated in openings which are internally threaded to 4thus 'adapt them for the operative connec` tion with the threaded or ,l spirally grooved shafts, 19, 19', of the'lowermost movable section of the mast, the arrangement being such that when the operating means shown lat thebase of the mast .is operated", rotation is imparted to the-central upright, a, and

of rotation is given the loose nuts, 1i, with the result that rotative movement is thereby .imparted to the. sections,l 19, before men- 20 tioned.

, Each of fthe/threaded shafts, 19, carries 'at .its upper end a'fixed gear-nut, 20, and

the intermediate shaftialso carries at its upper. end a fixed gear, 21', which meshes with the gears, 20, these gears being inter- .nally threaded toadapt-them foriappro- -priate operation with the .spirals or-threads formed on the shafts22 ofthe next succeedingl section of themast, this section havingy l. its shafts adapted to telescopically fit within ythecorresponding.shafts, 19, of the lower section, and the intermediate shaft, 22 vof this section being designed for telescopic movement Within the corresponding intermediate shaft, 19, of the neXt lower section, i The mast may include as many sections constructed and arranged as before described and adapted to telescope one within the --other as may be found necessary for the 40 bezput, and the heightto wliichthe object.. or contrivance. which the mast is tovcarry is particular'use to which my invention is-to to `be elevated'. In the present drawings I 'have shown two additional sections, one

'illustrated at 25, as operated by gear-nuts, 24, on the shafts,.22-v22, the members of said `section,`25, carrying gear nuts, 26, at

their upper ends; and a top section, 27, tlu` upper endsyof whosel shafts are connected by a platforml or support, 28, the construction being such that .the shafts of the Vupper section are held .against rotation, but the I shafts 1 constituting this?` uppermost v section art.`

' against-'the hubsvofthe U vnext lower section, as indicated in Fig. 3,

l are givenlthe rectilinear movement due `to .Y 55V lower section, `as will be understood in this vthe rotation of the gearnuts, 26, ofthe next "II-1.0i", er that each succeeding section may Abe substantially locked against further Vrotation atthelim-it of'its upward extension,

" I may form on Ythe lower ends of the sections collars,.29, which.' are designedy to abut gear-nuts of the Fig. il, and they have centralso that when a section is elevated to its eXtreme limit, the further movement of the vshafts thereof is checked and theshafts thus become locked to the companion nuts and the nuts andshafts may then turn together and by so doing rotation is imparted to the nuts carried at the top of the next higher --section with the result that the threaded sired. number of sections of suitable length V n Y within thel limits'ofl the diametersl of their through the geared nut, 14', at the top theremembers, which necessarily decrease progressively fromthe base section to the upper section of kthe structure.; thatthe niemvbers constitutingl thelower or base section and the members:constitutingthe uppermost section. are non-rotatable and that said upwhich the mast Vis to be'supplied. This contrivance, in the present instance, isfshown as a` searchlight 30,`of any appropriate character and -which 4is'so suspendedby links or a lever mechanism, 31, that itmay be elevated to a position on top of the platform,

`when it is in active use,'or it may be re- ."moved from this platform and deposited ,upon an appropriate support, 33, on ythe platform of the vehicle c r supporting struc lwhich will best serve the object of the invention. t is lalso understood that any other contrivance may be substituted lfor the searchlight and tothis Vend I may employ any kind of` contrivance and operating means disclosed inv detail in my aforesaid prior applications.

In operation and assuming that the sections are in their collapsed position, as in.

Fig. 2, when the crank handle of the operating means is turned, the intermediate tubular member, a', and the intermediate shafts,

. 19V andV 22', of the several sections, except @the uppermost section, are lrotated and as y the geared nuts on the upper ends. of theseI various serewfshafts are in mesh .Withthe lper section supports the contrivance with similar gear-nutson the upper` endsof the companion screw shafts, it will be apparent that the several sections will beV successively advanced out ofqeach` otheryfollowing the upper contrivance supporting section first advanced out of-itssection and untill the parts lhave assumedr substantially the position shown in Fig. -1. A'reverse operation will'result in the several shafts constituting 'the various sections being telescoped one within the other, as indicated in Fig. 2, after :Whichrthe Searchlglltmr. other eentriranae,

beswung,l from?.l its. p:osition,on. top. of the uppermost section. to@ the@ Supper@- ef Flg. 2. c

,1 In, the present instancefi the? Siiciie improvemeni isi1r largely in.I the vemployment of the gear-nuts at the top of the shafts constitutingithe variousisectionsi andwhich-.nnts

constitute a directly geared connection'ibef tween'the several shafts of eachvsection and to an extent control the movement of each section. v

Having thus described my invention what I claim as'new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An elevator comprising a plurality of parallel, substantially closely spaced telescoping sections; a driving lsection parallel.v

with and intermediate of the first named sections; intermeshing gears on the upper ends of said section, for raising and lowering said sections; and auxiliary gear means on companion sections co-actively engaged and adapted to convert their rotary movement into longitudinal movement of the sections. v

2. 'An elevator comprising a plurality of parallel, substantially closely spaced telescoping sections; a driving section parallel with and intermediate of the first named sections; intermeshing gears on the upper ends of said section, for raising and lowering said sections; and auxiliary gear means on `companion sections co-actively engaged and adapted to convert theirrotary movement into longitudinal movement of the sections, a support on the uppermost section, a

' contrivance adaoted to be mounted on said support, and pivotal means shiftably mountv ing the contrivance relatively to the support.

3. An extensible mast comprising a plurality of parallel, substantially closely spaced telescoping sections; a driving section parallel vwith and intermediate of the rst named sections; intermeshing gears on the upper ends of the sections, for `raising and lowering the latter; and rotatable gears on the sections engageable with each other and forming an auxiliary sectionally mounted means for converting the rotation of the gears into rectilinear movement of the'sections.

4. An extensible mast comprising a plurality of parallel, substantially closely spaced telescoping sections; a driving section parallel with and intermediate of the rst named section; intermeshing gears on the upper ends of the sections, for raising and lowering the latter; and rotatable gears on the sections engageable with each other and forming an auxiliary sectionally-mounted means for converting the rotation of the gears into rectilinear movement of the sec- .tions; .and. ag. contrivance andj meansv con .negatedI therewith; for l'shifting thea contrivance relativelyto; certa-inet thegsections.

5a An extensible mast. comprising a,.plu

-raltnofretating andA non-rotellina Sect-ione- ;.certainf on saidtsections. beingy lcentrally disposed between the other sections; means forvrotatingcertlain sai'rlfA sections; and@ in- -termeshing gearing on the sections and con- Vnecting the members of each section 1n sevsubstantially closely spaced telescoping sections, certain of said sections being centrally' disposed between the other sections and each of sald sections having intermeshing gears; means for applying power to said elevator; and means on the sections engaged c `with each other and successively engaging the sections and adapted to raise and lower said sections.

7. An elevator formed of sections, said sections comprising a plurality of substantially closely spaced parallel members and a centrallylocated intermediate driving member; and means including co-acting gearing on said members for converting rotation of the driving member into rectilinear movement of said members.

8. An extensible mast comprising a base section, other sections telescopically arranged relatively to each other and to said base section, said other sections having spiral threads, a rotatable'driving section of telescopic members arranged intermediate of said other sections, and co-acting gear elements on said other sections and said driving section, said gear elements of one section engaging the spiral thread of a coacting section for converting they rotation of the. driving section in relative rectilinear movement of said sections.

9. In an extensible mast, theV combination with a non-rotatable base and a top section, of other sections intermediate of the top and base sections, said intermediate sections being formed of spirally grooved telescoping shafts, a driving section formed of rotatable telescoping shafts arranged parallel to and intermediate of the other shafts, and co-acting gear-means on corresponding portions of the said shafts and operatively engaging the spiral grooves of the first-named shafts and thereby rectilinearly moving thel latter.

10. In an extensible mast. the combination with abase section and a top section, each composed of non-rotatable members; of other sections intermediate of and alined with the base and too sections, and composed of spirally grooved telescopically-fitted shafts, a driving section centrally disof telescopieally fitted rotatable shafts'aryof the rst and second named shafts, said ranged parallel to the other shafts and sec- -spirally groovecl` shafts4v having means entionally substantially correspondingr to the "gageabl'e with said gears to thereby lock the latter, said first-named shafts having their shafts thereto. l f 5 'spiral groovesv relatively reversedfand co- In testimony whereof I aix'my signature.- "acting gears onthe corresponding portions f' BENJAMIN I `.-SEYMOUR.'v

. Copies ot'thiis patent may be obtained for veiicents each, -by' addressing tlmV commissioner ofk Patents, 'f j f Washington,`D. 

